In article ,
newshound writes:
On 01/03/2018 08:55, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
On the news just now...

Apparently gas consumption today would be 400M cubic metres, but
there's only 350M cubic metres available, so a gas deficit has been
declared. This means large industrial users will have their gas cut
off for part of the day.

The two contributory factors are 1/3rd extra usage today over normal
due to the weather, and two gas import docks broken down.

Centrica closed our North Sea gas storage last year, which held 9
weeks supply of gas, due ot it being not commercially viable
anymore. Gas spot price currently 190p/therm.

Interesting. Does "large industrial users" include CCGTs?

That question went through my mind too.

Many years ago when the CCGT's sprung up, they all bought cheap
gas on tarrifs which allowed them to be shut off if there's a
shortage of gas, and that nearly lead to blackouts on one
occasion. The upshot was that they shouldn't be allowed to
buy gas on tarrifs which allow shutting off, but I don't know
if that was implemented in regulations or law (or in practice).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]